Loops Podcast No. 7: Pink Lady Monster and their carnival of spirits
In my last interview with glitch-pop producer Iron Hox [https://loops.substack.com/p/podcast-the-freaky-pop-philosophy], we talked a lot about noise — about how cathartic it can be to push the volume and manipulate sounds beyond recognition. Simone and Savanna (no last names shared) from Pink Lady Monster also get a kick out of letting loose in the studio. The band’s performances are knowlingly theatric, manic and offbeat.
Their new EP, Psychic Antennae and a Tinsel Heart [https://pinkladymonster.bandcamp.com/album/psychic-antennae-and-a-tinsel-heart], is rooted in pop but constantly on the move, expanding into jazz, klezmer and post-punk during its short runtime. I met with Simone and Savanna outside a cathedral near my neighborhood to ask about the process of recording their EP. Listen to our conversation for the Loops Podcast above, read the transcript below, and subscribe to the Substack for more interviews.
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MIGUEL OTÁROLA: So this is Loops, the podcast. I'm Miguel Otárola, and I'm here with Pink Lady Monster.
Can you tell me the name of the record?
SIMONE: The record is called Psychic Antennae and a Tinsel Heart.
OTÁROLA: When was the last time that you had put out something as a band?
SIMONE: We've never put out anything as a band. The first Pink Lady album on Spotify is something that I did during Covid, but we actually never performed those songs live.
SAVANNA: We met through one of my oldest friends. She introduced us and yeah, I was at her birthday party on a lawn. Was that right, like November of 2021? We started living together and Simone was like, “I need a bass player.” And I said, “I am afraid, but I will do it.” [Laughs.]
SIMONE: But I feel like our start, our introduction, to the Denver music world was very slow. We started playing together, but we didn't really start compiling sets and stuff until much later.
OTÁROLA: When I saw you yesterday, you said that you're kind of really happy that it's finally out and it feels like a big relief and I don't know, why is that?
SIMONE: I think it's because the process of getting this project done was actually quite difficult as far as it felt kind of pulling hair at the end. And the recording process was very emotional, I feel like, for everyone involved. So that part was, it just felt like it was already ending while we were recording it, which was kind of an interesting feeling. And then we took it back to Denver and ended up kind of like re-tracking a ton of things. So we thought it would be like, “Oh, we record this and we take it back and get it mixed and mastered, then off it goes.” But it took us a long time to get everything the way we wanted it, especially it was recorded and a kind of old house with not very good acoustics.
SAVANNA: We recorded in this old Quaker church where they filmed Revenge of the Nerds, and a lot of it was recorded in a library and just different rooms throughout the house.
OTÁROLA: Where was the house?
SIMONE: It was in Tucson, Arizona. It was hard ‘cause we only gave ourselves four days. We're like, “Let's do this in four days and then we'll get out of here.” Which was a pretty bad miscalculation on our part, but at the end of the day, I wouldn't change it. I'm happy the way that it ended up.
OTÁROLA: What kind of inspirations were you gathering when you put it together?
SIMONE: I was at the time really, really inspired by a lot of post-punk stuff. Specifically, I've always been in love with The Slits, and I kind of took a deep dive into that world with Ari Up and her kind of vocal performance is so wonky and raspy and kind of crazy. And from that initial inspiration from her, I just started wanting some of that life in the songs that we were writing together as the band. And then from there, a ton of inspirations just kind of popped up randomly. I started getting really into a lot of old kind of ballet stuff, and I started learning about this old Russian folklore tale about this demon called the Kikimora [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kikimora]. And so then we started thinking about the entire project a little bit as a portrait of this feminine energy that is both very sweet and soft and tender, but also has a tendency towards being malicious and cruel and spiteful and hateful.
OTÁROLA: Well, what is the legend, the lore?
SIMONE: The thing about the Kiki is that it can be both a helpful spirit, but also a spirit that wants to ruin your life and come after you. It is a part of the house. So I guess the very traditional story is that if this spirit senses that there's something, some misdemeanor going on in the house, if there's domestic violence or if there's just like, I don't know, kind of abuse of any kind or just maltreatment of each other, the Kiki will come in and come through your keyhole at night. She'll sneak in through your front door and she'll hide in the floorboards. And they said that she essentially turns your life crooked. She gives you nightmares and she haunts you and kind of possesses your thoughts and your outlook on life. There's a quote that I love that says she spins evil into the world. What's that guy in Sleeping Beauty, the thread spinner? Do you know what I'm talking about?
SAVANNA: Rumpelstiltskin?
SIMONE: Yes! Rumpelstiltskin! Yeah, she's like evil Rumpelstiltskin. Well, he's kind of evil too.
SAVANNA: She’s sexy Rumpelstiltskin.
SIMONE: Yeah, she's sexy Rumpelstiltskin, but they say she weaves evil into the world and she can help you if she sees that you're worthy of it, but she likes to test you beforehand.
OTÁROLA: Did you feel her in the house in Tucson?
SIMONE AND SAVANNA: Yes.
SIMONE: It was just this very bizarre thing that happened on our last night of recording. I was just super wired and sitting in bed and Savanna and I had been sleeping in bed like an old married couple essentially every night. And I was just sitting there and suddenly I see this, and I'm usually not the kind of person that has things like this happen to me. That's why it was so weird. But I felt like this wave of energy in the corner of the room, and then it dripped down into this weird cloud thing, smoky cloud thing. And then it moved down into this rocking chair, and I was just staring at the rocking chair feeling really weird about the rocking chair for no apparent reason. I didn't even think that there was a ghost or some kind of essence there that was going to harm me. I just felt like some weird shit was going on with the rocking chair.
OTÁROLA: Did it start rocking?
SIMONE: No, it just was kind of like, pulsating.
SIMONE: Then at that moment, Savanna sat up in her sleep and pointed at the rocking chair and said, [lowers voice] “rocking chair”, and then she fell back, still asleep.
SAVANNA: No, I don't remember it. I don't remember it.
SIMONE: But Savanna does have weird conscious abilities while she sleeps.
We started thinking about the entire project a little bit as a portrait of this feminine energy that is both very sweet and soft and tender, but also has a tendency towards being malicious and cruel and spiteful and hateful.
SIMONE: I feel like this album is probably way more conceptual than anything that we've ever done as a band. So every song does have a very specific story attached to it, but I think me and Savanna loved the “Sigmund Saunter” one.
This is the one that's also extremely crazy. It's the one where it's relatively chill at the beginning and then it goes off into this soundscape where the saxophone player sounds like they're about to explode.
OTÁROLA: I mean, there are a few moments I think, where you just kind of go out into all noise and the squawking sax and the French horn and the clattering symbols, and I feel like you can really kind of hear that in the house, as well? It's a kind of ramshackle vibe. Why did you want to have a few of those freakout moments?
SAVANNA: Because that's just part of not even just being a woman, just being a person, is you freak out. And a lot of music is so calm and cohesive all the time. I feel like it's kind of an unrealistic representation and yeah, I dunno. It's important to kind of lose your shit and just scramble around for a little bit. We all do it when we're at home by ourselves, but we rarely put it out into the open for other people to see. And it's uncomfortable, but it feels good.
SIMONE: Yeah, and I agree with that. And I also think that when we just started doing that as a band, it happened very naturally. We just started doing it and then we were like, oh, this feels nice to do. So it was something that happened naturally and also was I think our most palpable way of expressing emotion for those parts in the songs.
SIMONE: We're planning on, I think going even more fragmented and crazy. We have been very inspired by this band called Dog Shit Taco, and they basically, well … you can tell they have their roots and kind of thrash metal stuff, but the thing that's cool about — we're not going into thrash metal just so everyone knows — but we like how their songwriting is so creative in the sense where like, some of their songs even start out with jazz. It's this jazz soundscape and then it's this metal guitar and then it shoots off somewhere else. It's just constantly changing the entire song. No place returns to its original part. And this album, I feel like hints at that style of songwriting for sure. And we, I think want to try experimenting more with that.
OTÁROLA: Can you tell me what's one of your favorite loops of all time? … Something that is a beat, a repeated phrase or something that you could kind of hear for hours on end.
SAVANNA: I like hearing orchestras tuning. That's mine.
SIMONE: Mine's kind of funny. I honestly am so in love with saxophone skronks.
SAVANNA: [in the background] She’s a skronk slut.
SIMONE: Yeah, that's probably my sound that for some reason I just love so much.
SIMONE: Me and Savanna have been talking a lot about a lot of other ideas and we've been trying to finish this, that it's been making us not able to pursue other stuff. So we're going to make robots. Yes. We want to make robots and we also want to start a new little act. Lounge-y, lounge-y vibes. That's all I can say.
OTÁROLA: Wait a second. What kind of robots?
SIMONE: We’ll see.
OTÁROLA: Thank you so much.
SIMONE AND SAVANNA: Thank you. Thank you.
That was Simone and Savanna from Pink Lady Monster. Their new EP, Psychic Antennae and a Tinsel Heart, is out now. Thank you for listening — the interviews and guest mixes you hear and see on Substack are all produced and hosted by me, Miguel Otárola. The intro music is by Emmyawardwinner. The songs in this episode are courtesy of Pink Lady Monster. Subscribe to Loops on Substack and Youtube for more artist interview and music recommendations. And just an FYI: A paid subscription goes a long way. Until next time.
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